Jesus 4 Asia Now

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Home

Series Code: JFAN

Program Code: JFAN000018A


00:21 Hello and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now.
00:23 I'm Natalie Wood,
00:25 and I have my husband Jon here with me on the show today.
00:27 Hello, love.
00:28 Hello and Happy New Year.
00:30 Happy New Year,
00:31 so this is our New Year special.
00:32 Yeah, you can tell by the decorations on the set.
00:35 Right, we want to start out today.
00:37 Well, today is kind of different.
00:39 Yes.
00:41 We want to kind of vision cast so to speak.
00:43 Usually we talk very specifically about
00:45 specific projects about what is happening right now
00:48 or just recently,
00:49 but today we're gonna kind of step back
00:52 and take a big picture and do some vision casting,
00:55 some dreaming,
00:56 you know, it's the end of the year.
00:57 That's right
00:58 and as we look into the New Year,
00:59 we want to look at new opportunities
01:02 that the Lord is opening before us
01:04 opportunities for expansion of current projects
01:07 as well as new needs that
01:09 we've been seeing more and more of.
01:10 That's correct, yes.
01:11 As we move into God's work,
01:13 it seems as though new opportunities are opening.
01:15 So we just kind of want to step back and look,
01:17 what's going to happen in this New Year.
01:19 It's kind of like New Year resolutions
01:22 but it's more like New Year,
01:23 I guess you can say New Year's resolution
01:26 to follow God's will.
01:27 Right, because even though these are things
01:29 that we see right now that need to be done
01:32 or that the Lord seems to be directing us toward.
01:35 He can change our direction, He can multiply our direction,
01:39 I mean, well, we'll be talking,
01:40 we'll be talking about some of this.
01:42 Yeah, it's kind of a challenge when your silent partner
01:45 God is omnipotent.
01:47 To know how to plan, you know,
01:49 'cause He is much bigger than we are,
01:51 and so by faith, I mean,
01:53 by faith we claim the promise that
01:55 this gospel will be preached in all the world.
01:57 If we look at it from a human point of view,
02:00 that's going to take a long time.
02:02 It's impossible.
02:03 But if God says it, it's going to be done.
02:05 Right.
02:06 Just a matter of, am I going to be a part of it.
02:09 I want to be a part of it. Right.
02:11 So we want to first start out with
02:13 just kind of a pictorial or a video look
02:17 at an overview of many of our projects.
02:21 Yeah, what God has done this last year.
02:22 Okay, well, let's start with that.
02:24 Okay.
03:10 Pretty cool, huh.
03:12 Yeah, that's really always inspiring
03:14 to see the different pictures from different projects
03:16 all mixed in together
03:18 and kind of an overview of Jesus for Asia.
03:20 Yeah, the next thing we have is kind of a overview also,
03:23 but it has more space for all of our projects,
03:27 and so this is where we keep a list of all of our projects,
03:30 we just go to Jesusforasia.org
03:33 and then we click on in the upper right corner,
03:36 it says a list of projects,
03:37 and then we can scroll through
03:39 and see all the projects that we have it,
03:41 and you know, we always say,
03:42 we have over 40 projects.
03:43 I counted today and we have over 50.
03:46 Okay.
03:47 So God continues to expand the work
03:49 that He has placed in our hands
03:52 which is exciting but daunting.
03:54 Yes, very.
03:55 That God is in control, not us.
03:57 Yes.
03:58 So we can place it back in His hands
03:59 and sleep well at night.
04:01 Yeah, we don't have to worry and stress out.
04:04 No.
04:05 It's a blessing. No.
04:06 God isn't stressed. Right.
04:08 God's not stressed, He is not surprised by,
04:10 you know, the end of time.
04:11 Right, it's not like He got here and decided oh,
04:15 oops, I forgot to plan for, either I forgot to budget for,
04:18 either I forgot to put people in the right places for it.
04:21 I forgot that I need certain number of angels,
04:23 you know, it's always been His plan.
04:26 Yeah, from the foundation of the world.
04:28 So we don't know the day or the hour of His coming,
04:30 but we do know that it's getting closer and closer.
04:32 Absolutely.
04:33 And there are a lot of people out there
04:35 that don't know Him yet.
04:36 Yeah, and we're gonna look at that today.
04:37 Right, and so first we want to talk about vision casting.
04:40 We've used that term already in the show and what is it?
04:44 I mean, it sounds kind of intimidating actually.
04:47 So what is it? Break it down for us?
04:49 Yeah, Proverb says that without a vision that people perish.
04:52 And a vision is kind of like a direction, a goal,
04:56 something that's not there yet.
04:59 Something that's not materialized,
05:01 but it's an idea.
05:03 It's a first step in creating something.
05:06 Vision casting is kind of like
05:08 we're throwing out these ideas, His visions...
05:11 Of what's possible, what's available,
05:14 what we see right now.
05:15 What we would like to see happen and just sharing,
05:18 kind of like from the heart of what we see
05:21 as this year could bring.
05:23 2017 is a brand New Year.
05:26 God can do amazing things this year.
05:28 That's right. Yes.
05:29 That's right.
05:30 Well, let's start out first with unreached people
05:33 because that's part of our vision for Jesus for Asia
05:36 from the very beginning.
05:37 Yes, well, an unreached people group is a group of people
05:40 that are separated from other groups of people
05:42 either by linguistic barrier
05:44 or geographical barrier or political barrier.
05:47 So like, you may have one group of people
05:49 that speak the same language
05:50 but they are in different countries
05:52 and they can't go back and forth easily.
05:53 So if you plant the gospel in one people group,
05:55 it doesn't easily jump over to the other.
05:59 So in the world today
06:01 there is about 16, 000 people groups
06:04 and there is about 41 percent,
06:06 about 6, 000 of those people groups
06:09 don't have access to the gospel...
06:12 At all?
06:13 In their language.
06:14 Some of them are completely unreached,
06:15 there is no Christian, there is no resources,
06:17 there is nothing.
06:18 No missionary.
06:19 Some of them have like one to two percent.
06:22 So such a small amount of Christianity that
06:25 the average person growing up in that culture
06:28 can live his whole life without ever
06:30 hearing the name of Jesus Christ,
06:32 without ever hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ
06:35 and without ever knowing a Christian,
06:37 ever meeting a Christian their entire life.
06:39 Just no clue that Christianity exists.
06:43 We in North America don't relate to that very well.
06:46 No.
06:47 Okay, well, let's get started with a map.
06:50 Yes.
06:51 Now, what is this map?
06:52 This map is a map of the Southern Asia Pacific division,
06:57 one division in our church broken down by language,
07:00 broken down.
07:01 You know, we hear about church growth by country,
07:04 but this is a map that breaks it down further by language.
07:07 The red represent language groups
07:09 or people groups with that specific language
07:12 that we have no active SDA work.
07:15 Non, nonbeliever, no church
07:18 nothing happening in those languages.
07:21 So this one of our divisions and this is...
07:24 There is a lot of red on that map.
07:26 A lot of red, yes.
07:27 That could be very discouraging.
07:29 Yeah, absolutely.
07:32 But there is hope, isn't there?
07:34 Oh, there is huge amount of hope
07:35 because you think about it.
07:37 In this one division,
07:38 there is about over 1, 200 languages
07:40 that are unentered at all,
07:43 and yet there are 1.1 million church members,
07:46 Seventh-day Adventist Church members in North America.
07:48 What if 10 percent went?
07:51 That would be 110,000 people.
07:53 All of a sudden 1,200 languages is not a big deal.
07:56 That's right.
07:57 Or what if 1 percent went,
07:59 you know, that's 11,000 people.
08:02 You know, that's like almost 10 people for each language.
08:06 So all we need is revival in missions.
08:09 That's right. That's all it takes.
08:11 Okay.
08:13 So you are talking about
08:14 a revival for mission with people.
08:16 Yes.
08:17 What about giving permission
08:19 especially for the missions that reach the unreached?
08:22 That statistic is that over 90 percent of all Christian
08:25 giving worldwide of every denomination,
08:28 all Christian giving goes to minister
08:31 to the seven and half percent that speak English.
08:35 So North America, Europe, parts of Europe and Australia.
08:38 We tend to give to ministries that minister to me,
08:42 to us.
08:44 And so the unreached are kind of left out in the cold.
08:47 Okay, so like if someone gave a $100,
08:50 how much of that would end up going to the unreached?
08:53 Somebody put a $100 in the offering plate,
08:56 maybe half of a penny would go
09:00 towards reaching the unreached which is sad
09:02 because that's one of our primary tasks
09:05 as a church, as an organized church
09:07 is to spread the gospel.
09:09 The rest goes to maintaining what's already there and...
09:13 Yes, keeping the lights on,
09:14 keeping pastors in the churches,
09:18 keeping resources...
09:20 Which is important also.
09:21 Oh, sure, absolutely.
09:22 And we are not trying to say that,
09:23 that needs to stop so that others will start.
09:27 What we are doing here needs to be imported
09:30 or exported over there.
09:32 There is a need for more.
09:33 Yeah, exactly, share what we are doing.
09:36 Not stop what we are doing but share what we are doing
09:39 with those that don't know we can do that.
09:41 Don't know that we can worship God and praise.
09:45 Don't know that there is a Father
09:46 that's worthy of praise and honor in our lives.
09:49 So sharing that with others and it's like
09:52 Lazarus at the gate of the rich man in Luke 16,
09:56 you know,
09:57 he's just begging for a crumb off the rich man's table.
10:00 You know, right now about 20 times
10:03 what goes into missions goes into our local church budget.
10:06 So in other words,
10:07 what we spend on the local church budget is
10:09 20 times larger than what we give in missions.
10:12 And then what goes in the missions,
10:14 just a fraction of that goes to reach the unreached.
10:17 A lot of that goes to continue maintaining
10:20 what we've already established, which needs to be maintained.
10:25 So instead of taking some of what
10:27 we need to maintain what we've established away
10:29 to go the unreached,
10:31 we should give extra and that should go
10:33 to reach the unreached.
10:35 Right.
10:36 We need to continue
10:37 because we want to introduce our viewers
10:39 to an unreached people group.
10:41 So let's take an overview look
10:42 at some unreached people group maps.
10:44 Right.
10:45 If you're interested in learning more about
10:47 the unreached people groups,
10:49 you can go to joshuaproject.net
10:51 and that's an evangelical ministry
10:54 that focuses on measuring
10:55 the progress of the gospel through the world
10:58 and so we downloaded.
10:59 They have a packet of place marks
11:04 that we can put into Google earth
11:07 and then we can see where all these unreached
11:09 and reached people groups are throughout the world.
11:12 Okay, so the first video is...
11:14 Coming into Asia.
11:16 Okay.
11:23 Wow.
11:24 So each of those dots represents a people group?
11:26 Yes.
11:27 But not necessarily reflecting the area of that people group
11:31 or the size of that people group,
11:33 it's just a dot in
11:35 where they're most likely concentrated.
11:37 Kind of a center of that people group.
11:38 Of their location.
11:40 Yeah, so that people group may cover all of India
11:42 for instance, we just have one dot.
11:44 Okay.
11:45 And now some of these dots could represent
11:47 300, 600 million people.
11:49 Other dots may represent 50,000,
11:52 so that doesn't...
11:53 Okay, so it doesn't, the size of the dot
11:55 doesn't reflect,
11:56 'cause all the dots are of the same size.
11:57 Exactly, but the color of the dot
11:59 makes a difference.
12:00 You'll see some green dots, some yellow dots
12:03 and some red dots.
12:04 And the green dots are people groups
12:06 in which the church is thriving and flourishing.
12:08 Now, this is not the Seventh-day Adventist Church
12:10 only, this is all churches.
12:12 Okay, all Christianity.
12:15 Right, yes. Okay.
12:16 And so the red dot are the unreached.
12:19 All right, so here is the unreached in India.
12:22 India has the highest number of unreached people groups
12:24 in the world for one country, over 2,000 people groups.
12:28 You can see the names popping up
12:30 of each of those people groups.
12:31 India has so many people groups
12:33 because they are separated by caste
12:35 and there are very deep separations.
12:38 So you can see this is one, looking at just one area,
12:41 and we're gonna come back to this
12:43 because there has been some calls
12:45 for churches being built on property
12:48 that we've already purchased,
12:49 that the church has already purchased in this area.
12:52 We'll come back to that. Okay.
12:53 All right, so the next one is South India.
12:57 South India is where we have our orphanage
12:59 and there is quite a bit of work there,
13:01 but as you can see
13:02 there is still a huge amount of work to be done
13:05 which can be done if we just go in and do it.
13:07 Right.
13:08 All right, and the next one is...
13:10 Indonesia. Indonesia.
13:12 Indonesia was on that map that we saw earlier
13:15 from the Southern Asia Pacific division.
13:17 Yeah, I want to tell a little story about that
13:19 because I was at the GC at the booth,
13:22 and one of the leaders from the Indonesian Conference came,
13:25 and he was looking at that
13:26 and seeing how much was red and I says,
13:29 and he is like, yeah,
13:30 we don't have any churches here,
13:32 don't have any believers here.
13:34 And I says, I love to send a team of videographers
13:37 in there to document those people group
13:40 what they look like, what their needs.
13:42 He says, yes, please send them.
13:44 We will support you,
13:45 we'll do everything 'cause their heart...
13:47 A lot of these leaders that I see overseas,
13:51 their heart is to reach to the unreached,
13:52 but they feel like their hands are tied
13:54 because they just don't have the resources to do it.
13:56 Usually the church is a very poor church
13:58 in these third world countries,
14:02 because the gospel is preached to the poor,
14:03 right. Right.
14:04 The poor are the ones that are most receptive to it,
14:07 and so you grow, you raise up a poor church,
14:10 and they are not able to move forward
14:13 like we would like to see.
14:15 Right. Yeah.
14:16 Okay.
14:17 We've got another country to look at.
14:18 Now, this is Thailand. Okay.
14:23 So there is a lot of red ones in Thailand.
14:25 Yeah, they're kind of spread out
14:27 but it's not as densely populated country.
14:30 Okay. All right.
14:32 So we want to look at one
14:33 unreached people group in Thailand.
14:35 Yes, yes. Okay, here we go.
14:43 This is the Lao Krang people group
14:45 and it's in the center of Thailand.
14:48 It's a people that were brought over from Lao, you know,
14:51 100 or more years ago,
14:53 and as you can see with this graphic that focuses in
14:57 on this people group.
14:59 There is no work there of any kind.
15:02 There is no one that's Christian there.
15:04 Zero percent Christian.
15:06 Yeah, no resources, no Bible, no...
15:09 nothing.
15:10 It's not a huge group, it's only 57, 000
15:13 but what if my family was in that people group.
15:16 Will I think it be worth it to go take the gospel to them.
15:20 Yeah. Yeah.
15:22 So we've seen the unreached people groups
15:25 kind of an overview.
15:26 Cut the vision a little bit maybe.
15:28 Yeah, seen maybe what's needed.
15:30 What is one of the most effective ways
15:32 to reach the unreached peoples?
15:34 Well, there is lots of different ways
15:36 that it can be done,
15:37 but what we've found is the most effective is
15:39 partnering with our local Bible workers.
15:42 Okay.
15:43 Opening up the opportunity for them to move in there,
15:46 and day by day live among the people
15:50 and there is not as many barriers
15:53 because where they're not coming in
15:55 as wealthy people,
15:57 they are not coming in as foreigners,
15:59 they are coming in as locals.
16:02 And so our Bible workers have definitely been
16:05 the biggest blessing in since we've started this ministry.
16:09 Okay, and we've got some goals
16:11 or some challenges for ourselves
16:14 for 2017 with Bible workers.
16:17 You know, I just came back
16:18 from traveling through India again
16:20 and seeing the impact of what they've done.
16:23 Our dream is to see, is to double our workforce.
16:29 Okay, so right now we have about 200, 250 in India,
16:34 Thailand and the Philippines.
16:35 Yes. Okay.
16:36 And we would like to see 500 by the end of 2017.
16:40 Okay, part of having the Bible workers
16:43 is making sure they have the training they need
16:45 to be able to go out and teach people
16:47 about God in effective ways.
16:50 And I know that some of the units of the church
16:54 in various areas
16:55 that have Bible workers are training them,
16:58 you know, on a frequent basis they get together
17:00 and they train in different subjects or different things,
17:04 but we need more Bible worker training.
17:06 Correct.
17:07 Yeah, the way that our Bible worker program
17:09 works is that,
17:10 we work with the church very closely
17:12 and the funds go to the church
17:15 and then the local leaders
17:17 on the local fields will then train the Bible workers
17:20 and oversee the work.
17:21 They've been asking us,
17:22 can you please set up a training seminar,
17:25 a training center to train,
17:28 to provide training for these Bible workers.
17:30 That's their biggest need
17:31 and they've been asking us for many years.
17:33 We just haven't had the faith to step out to do it.
17:36 Okay.
17:37 And this year I believe God is starting to move.
17:40 So that's one of our goals.
17:41 That's one of our dreams
17:42 and our request that we place in the Lord's hands everyday.
17:45 Right, right.
17:47 So part of this though,
17:49 once the Bible workers go to an area
17:51 and they start teaching people about God,
17:55 they need to have a place to meet.
17:56 Well, this is the issue that we're finding 'cause originally
17:59 as the ministry we didn't focus on churches.
18:02 We just wanted growth and we wanted more people.
18:05 We just send the workers to seek for the lost.
18:07 Exactly, and we've been doing that for the last 11 years
18:11 but we're finding this year especially is that
18:15 we sense God leading to help build churches
18:18 because we have congregations
18:22 that have been raised up
18:23 and they don't have a place to worship,
18:25 and we're gonna look at some of those things.
18:27 For instance in Udumalpet,
18:29 this is a church that we hold very dear to our hearts
18:33 because we as a family went there
18:34 when my daughter was four, my son was six
18:36 and we did evangelism with five other teams
18:39 in the surrounding small villages
18:41 of the major city called Udumalpet.
18:43 Can you say that six times in a row?
18:45 Yeah, it took a while.
18:48 The leadership in the area said,
18:51 we have all these country churches,
18:54 village churches,
18:55 we don't have a city church in the main city.
18:57 So he says, okay, let's do this.
18:59 And so we raised up 40 people were baptized.
19:02 And now there is about same number of people
19:05 worshipping every single Sabbath
19:07 but they only have a house to worship in for the last...
19:12 that was nine years ago that we did this evangelism,
19:14 and for nine years they've been meeting in rented halls,
19:18 rented facilities.
19:19 The members and the leadership
19:22 just recently got together and purchased some property
19:24 but they still don't have a church.
19:27 This next slide is a church in Assam,
19:30 and I kind of get choked up when I talk about Assam
19:32 because it is such a mission field.
19:35 There are 32 million people in the state of Assam
19:38 which is in the northeast of India.
19:40 We have four pastors,
19:43 four Seventh-day Adventist pastors
19:45 for 32 million people,
19:46 and we're gonna talk more about this in the future,
19:49 so I don't want to spend too much time
19:50 but they requested,
19:51 can you please give us two churches.
19:54 We have property purchased in two different places,
19:58 we need to build churches.
20:00 All right, and let's move on to the next area.
20:02 Yeah, Uttar Pradesh,
20:03 this is the one that I was telling about.
20:05 I don't have any pictures of the properties,
20:06 but I just got an email just last week
20:09 requesting from the pastor that had planted these churches
20:13 in these different communities,
20:14 four different communities is requesting
20:17 a purchased property
20:18 but and this was like 2000 and 2004,
20:22 so like over 10 years ago they purchased a property
20:25 but they haven't been able to use the property.
20:27 So in that society if you don't use the property,
20:31 the government will come and say you're not using it,
20:33 you have to give it up.
20:35 And so there is getting some incursions...
20:37 Encroachments.
20:38 Encroachments from the local community
20:41 starting to take over that property,
20:43 and so he is begging,
20:44 please he is no longer a pastor in that area
20:46 but he is begging,
20:48 please can you help us, you know, put up a wall,
20:51 build a church so we can...
20:53 because the people are still there,
20:54 there are still believers there,
20:56 there is still a community of believers,
20:57 there is just no place to worship, no church.
21:00 Wow. So...
21:02 That's a desperate need.
21:03 Yeah, that, you know,
21:06 I mean it's one thing if you don't have believers
21:09 and you're starting up brand new
21:10 but if it's another thing, if you have believers
21:12 and they have got no church, they are not able.
21:13 For more than 10 years.
21:14 Yeah, lot of these people are, you know,
21:16 earning maybe one or two or three dollars a day.
21:19 You know, how can they afford a church.
21:22 Yeah.
21:24 Wow, well, that's heavy.
21:26 There is a lot of need out there.
21:27 It's huge amount of need, but you know,
21:28 if we all get together, do our part,
21:32 the Lord will take that and multiply it
21:33 and make a big impact.
21:35 Right, and that's the beautiful thing
21:38 about working with God on His projects...
21:40 That's correct.
21:41 Because He has this multiplication thing
21:43 that only He can do.
21:44 That's right.
21:45 Okay, well, we want to talk not just about new buildings,
21:47 but we want to talk also about
21:50 the need for expansion of current buildings
21:52 or purchasing buildings
21:53 that are currently being rented,
21:55 those kinds of things.
21:56 So let's skip over to Mumbai.
21:58 Yes, Mumbai scarred me for life.
22:01 I visited there just recently and oh my word,
22:05 um, what need,
22:07 and I just want to go through really quick
22:09 because we're gonna spend the show,
22:10 a full show on Mumbai.
22:12 Okay.
22:13 But we're gonna show some of the churches that we have,
22:15 this is a church.
22:17 It's the one with the red and the green.
22:20 That's the church.
22:21 And this is inside the church.
22:23 You can see it's a thriving community,
22:25 a story with this church...
22:26 Very crowded.
22:27 Yeah, and very lively, and very sincere.
22:30 Oh my love.
22:32 Worshipping there,
22:33 if I had a choice every Sabbath morning
22:34 I'd go worship there.
22:35 This church was established and is still owned
22:37 by a former non-Adventist congregation.
22:41 One of our Bible worker's parents was living
22:43 right next door to this church
22:45 and the pastor started studying with them
22:48 and started learning about the new truths
22:50 and he became an Adventist
22:52 and he presented to its church congregation
22:54 and they all became Adventist.
22:55 Wow.
22:56 And so then
22:57 they felt call to plant a church in another area,
23:00 so they left and left our Bible worker
23:03 in charge of this group of this church.
23:05 We could then purchase this church from them
23:07 for just couple of thousand dollars,
23:10 and we need to also then
23:12 build a Bible worker accommodations on top,
23:16 on the second floor of this church.
23:17 And then the parents that
23:20 originally started Bible studies
23:21 with this previous pastor, their building collapsed.
23:25 And so we need to help rebuild that for them.
23:29 Okay.
23:30 And so this is one of those places
23:32 that would be very inexpensive
23:34 and it would really make a big difference.
23:36 Okay, and the next place is the Thane slum.
23:39 Yes, now this is not a church.
23:42 This is a slum area just looking down the street,
23:44 there is no church there.
23:46 We've had JFA Bible workers in that slum
23:48 for quite a number of years
23:50 and they have done a wonderful Job.
23:52 They've got over a hundred converts,
23:54 but there is no place,
23:55 no regular place for them to meet.
23:57 And so sometimes the Bible workers
23:59 will pull their own income, their own meager income
24:03 and rent a place for a little while
24:05 but they can't sustain it.
24:06 And so what we're praying for right now is
24:09 to buy a place for our church members in that slum.
24:15 Okay, well, that is a good challenge too.
24:17 Yeah, it's a big need.
24:18 Those churches that
24:19 we've just seen in Mumbai are not in Central Mumbai.
24:22 No.
24:23 What's the situation?
24:24 Is there a church in Central Mumbai?
24:26 There is one church in downtown Mumbai.
24:29 It was built back in the '40s by the original missionaries
24:33 and it's an English church.
24:35 It's like the section office. Yes.
24:36 So we've visited there but that's an English church.
24:39 That's an English church.
24:40 And what's the majority language in Mumbai?
24:41 Marathi. Marathi.
24:43 So, there is no Marathi church anywhere in Mumbai.
24:47 Not downtown, the...
24:48 Where is the nearest one?
24:49 The closest church to that church is
24:51 45 minute train ride away.
24:53 So how many people live in Mumbai?
24:55 Well, there is the Mumbai metropolis
24:57 which includes the surrounding areas and suburbs
24:59 and there is about 20 million people,
25:02 not the size of New York.
25:03 And then downtown Mumbai itself is 12 million people.
25:09 Okay.
25:10 So 12 million people...
25:11 One church in English. Yes.
25:14 Okay, so the Lord gave you a vision
25:17 or a idea or a faith challenge.
25:21 Yes, the Lord cast the vision, did some vision casting.
25:26 Last day I was there, we were in the big church,
25:28 and you know it's built in the '40s
25:30 so it looks kind of old, but we were there
25:34 and we were taking pictures outside
25:36 and I just had the sense,
25:38 wow, no other church in downtown Mumbai
25:42 for 12 million people.
25:44 Lord, we need another church like this
25:47 and I was always...
25:48 In their languages.
25:49 Yeah, that would be good
25:51 and as I was talking to the Lord about this,
25:55 He was like $2 million
25:58 and so I was like,
26:00 well, I can't go that big but what about one,
26:02 and so I ask the president, if you had a million dollars,
26:06 could you build another church like this in Mumbai.
26:10 You know, and there is lots of places in the world
26:12 where we've spent more than a million dollars
26:14 for one church, right.
26:15 So that's not a big deal, I must say.
26:17 Well, and it's an expensive city,
26:19 you know, you never know.
26:20 You don't know how much things cost there.
26:22 It's a cosmopolitan city, very expensive.
26:24 Right.
26:25 You know, it's a world class city, okay.
26:29 And so I asked him,
26:30 could you build a church like this for a million dollars
26:33 and we did some calculating,
26:35 the exchange rate and everything like that,
26:37 and he looked to me and says, I can build six.
26:39 So for two million dollars...
26:41 We can have 12.
26:43 So one church for million people.
26:45 That would be great.
26:47 So this is the vision that God has placed on our hearts
26:49 and I know that He will provide
26:52 because I feel so much joy and peace.
26:55 Well, it's a show full of challenges
26:57 that we've had today.
26:58 Yeah. Yes.
27:00 But it's also a show full of prayer needs...
27:02 And opportunities. Right.
27:04 In this season, you know,
27:05 this movie about Desmond Doss has come out
27:08 and it's inspiring many people.
27:10 As he was on that escarpment, his prayer was Lord,
27:14 give me one more.
27:15 You know, many times
27:17 we as a mission organization have prayed that same prayer...
27:19 Yes.
27:21 One more, Lord, one more.
27:24 One more person who knows about you before it's too late.
27:28 One more church, one more missionary,
27:32 one more city.
27:35 Just one more person that comes forward
27:41 and says I can't go but I can send.
27:45 If the Lord has impressed you to be a part of this ministry,
27:49 you can give your tax deductible love gift
27:51 to Jesus for Asia, PO Box 1221,
27:54 Collegedale, Tennessee 37315.
27:57 Call us at 423-413-7321,
28:02 or check out our website at Jesus4asia.org.
28:05 May God bless you in this New Year
28:09 as we all seek one more for His sake.


Home

Revised 2016-12-20